To this end, I iterate over a collection of menu items, containing the name and Action ( which would need to be taken if the menu item were hit), and keep adding them to a the context menu. All the menu items need to be connected to a common slot.

But somehow the trigger action does not happen. i.e. the connect statement is reached, but the control does not pass into the specified SLOT, no action is taken.

Not quite right, because he wants to know from slot which action was invoked. QMenu::triggered(QAction*) signal is also legitimate, and as documentation says, it is made right for that reason: when you connect multiple similar actions to same slot.
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NIAFeb 5 '13 at 14:07